Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Silkstone
Fj torres, real life is nothing like an action novel lol. Action novels are all about a hero overcoming obstacles. It's pure escapism. It lets the bored accountant escape his cubical for a few minutes. How do you explain the popularity of the most successful entertainment product of all time - Modern Warfare 4.
Food for thought.
Jack
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Real life isn't like action novels--to the extent that in real life the bad guys win more often than we'd like them to. Beyond that, hostage-taking, terrorists, car chases, sniper attacks, serial killers, mass murderers, biochem attacks, etc, may be Jack Bauer challenges, but they're also unfortunately real world events that could (again) pop up on the evening news at any time. When one person's escapism becomes somebody else's (near) reality, the appeal of that escapism suffers and other options appear more attractive. Doesn't mean *everybody* will look elsewhere, just that many/most will.
At any point in time, there is a market for pretty much any kind of escapism but how popular any specific variant is will change with the times; today it is glittery vamps, in other eras it was tough guy private dicks, suave secret agents, or singing cowboys. Which one is *most* popular *when* will depend on the tone of the times.
As for the Call of Duty games, I'm familiar enough with them (although I favor the Mass Effect and Fallout series myself) that I wouldn't look for hints of book market trends in the very different and violence-desensitized FPS gaming market. Nonetheless, remember that Modern Warfare 2 itself received plenty of bad press for a sequence where the player assisted terrorists in an airport massacre. And the competing Medal of Honor game was similarly criticized for offering up the opportunity to play as Taliban soldiers killing NATO soldiers. Some scenarios simply hit a little too close to home for comfort.
Consider this, from a veteran gamer:
http://trueslant.com/tassi/2009/11/1...port-massacre/
Sounds more like watching Schindler's List than fun escapism, doesn't it?
Write whatever story you have within you to tell; that much is your duty.
Just don't expect it to be evaluated in a vacuum.